How Blogging Everyday for 30 Days Impacted My Blog

If you didn’t read yesterday’s blog post, I chatted about everything I learned from my Daily Blogging Challenge (highly recommend giving it a read). Today, though, I’m specifically going to focus on how blogging everyday impacted my blog.

So first, let me just give a brief synopsis of what sparked this little challenge, and why I think blogging everyday is worth it (you can read a detailed account of this in my first post in the series)

In the blogging world, we’re often taught quality over quantity. This is especially true if you’re someone who is focusing heavily on SEO for promotion. Google is only going to show the highest quality articles, and if you’re pumping out articles everyday, there’s a good chance those articles aren’t the highest quality.

I will definitely agree with that. Not everything that I wrote during this time was my best work, or something that I think Google would show in their search results.

Now, having said that, even though I know that, I still like to take a more laid back approach with my blog.

I’ve never been about niches, I don’t think your content strategy has to be so set down in stone, and I don’t think we have to be so rigid about the topics that we talk about. 

If you’re not interested in what I have to say, don’t read the article. Easy.

Of course, though, that isn’t to say having those more rigid guidelines for your blog is a bad thing. They’re actually probably a good thing if you’re hoping to grow your blog. For me, though, I find being that strict with my blog boring. Or, at the very least, until I find that one topic that grips me, I’ll continue to use my blog as a platform to share my thoughts on a variety of topics.

I’m convinced that if I continue to do this consistently, I’ll eventually be able to find a blogging system that works for me.

If I were to follow every blogging blueprint out there and just talk about one subject, or try to mould myself into an influencer, it wouldn’t work. It wouldn’t be me, and I guarantee I would loose interest in it. 

If you’re also struggling with nailing down a “purpose” or a niche for your blog, I urge you to stop stressing over this. Simply continue to write, put content out there, connect with people when it feels natural for you, and do the blogging activities that you enjoy. It might take you longer to figure out your blog this way, but I would rather it take me longer to figure it out, than working on a blog I didn’t like, ‘ya know?

(Note: It’s important to note that I make my full-time income from freelance writing, which gives me the freedom to treat my blog as more of a passion project. I know not everyone is this lucky, but if you’re interested in making some income from freelance writing, I truly think it’s possible for everyone!).

Anyway, I guess this is just a long winded way of saying that if you’re struggling with your blog, or your content feels stale, challenge yourself with a Daily Blogging Challenge, but give yourself the freedom to write about WHATEVER. Doing so is going to be way more eye-opening than forcing your blog to be something that doesn’t interest you (or, at least, this is what I’ve found in my experience).

But okay, let’s get into the specifics of how blogging everyday impacted my blog:

1. Discovered a new direction

So you know how I just said that you should give yourself freedom to write about whatever?

Well, I’ve been doing this for the past 30 days, and in doing so, I opened myself up to a whole new direction for my blog that I had never even considered.

In fact, this new direction inspired my ONE goal for 2020.

I’m not ready to fully talk about this new direction just yet, but I guarantee that if I hadn’t started this blogging challenge, I probably would have never thought about this idea.

Bottom line: the more you’re producing content, the more opportunities you’re giving yourself to be inspired with your blog. 

And, who knows, if you’re like me, it could give you an entirely new focus for your blog!

2. More content to work with

Like I said, even though I know not every post I’ve written in this 30 days has been amazing, I do know there’s probably a solid 15 that are pretty damn good, and that I think could do well on Pinterest.

(Read about how I use Pinterest for blog traffic here)

Having said that, during this 30 day challenge, beyond mentioning the posts a couple times, I really didn’t promote the content at all.

I was more focused on producing the content.

But now that I have 30 posts, I have 30 opportunities to go promote that content.

It probably would have taken me 3 months to produce that amount of content if I had been following my usual content schedule.

In other words, you could say I did some serious batch content creation these past 30 days, and now I can focus the next month on promoting said content.

More content=more opportunities to find an audience.  

3. Creativity

No doubt about it, completing this 30 day blogging challenge has given me a serious burst of creativity.

And really, this probably isn’t too surprising. When you have to come up with a new blogging topic every single day, you’re bound to find some creativity in that.

If your blogging and it’s just starting to feel like you’re running through the motions, I guarantee a 30 day blogging challenge will spark something in you. Even if some days it’s just a quick 500 word post, that’s better than nothing (you can always expand that post into something longer at a later date).

Remember: embarking on a challenge like this is less about having a strict blogging routine, and it’s more about getting outside your routine so you can get some creativity into your blog.

4. More passion/less about numbers

I get it, we all want people to read our blogs. We want those pageviews, right?

Honestly, though, it’s been really refreshing to just focus on content creation and not on the numbers. My pageviews have dropped probably close to 50%, and while this isn’t exactly good news, it hasn’t been bothering me as much as it normally would because I’ve been focusing on content creation rather than on numbers.

I know that if I take next month and focus on promotion, I should be able to raise my numbers back up.

And hey, not to mention, being passionate about what I’ve been working on has been a nice change.

Less focus on numbers pretty much always leads to more passion in my experience, and if you can take 30 days to cultivate some of that passion and stop focusing on the numbers, that’s not a bad idea in my books.

5. Helped me focus on my passion

Speaking of passion…

I’ve always known that when it comes to blogging, the writing is the part that excites me.

While I certainly find the marketing and the connecting enjoyable at times, as a writer, the writing component is the part I love about blogging. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of doing for a living.

And yes, while being able to freelance write is an amazing opportunity that I don’t take for granted, after doing this blogging challenge, I’m even more sure that using my blog as a platform for my writing is what I want, so I can expand that into other opportunities for my writing (i.e. writing books, building an audience).

While this might not apply to everyone, blogging everyday for 30 days should help you realize what aspects of blogging you really enjoy. In other words, it might help you hone in on what about blogging you love, and what about it you could do without.

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To sum it up, this little blogging challenge has been one of the best ideas I’ve ever had for my blog. It made me start to see my blog differently.

Beyond just the blogging, it helped me in other areas of my life, too.

If you’re feeling stuck in your blog, you’re tired of your content, or you just need to generally shake things up, I can’t say enough good things about a 30 Day Blogging Challenge.

It’s truly been game changing. Give it a try, and see how it impacts your blog. If you stick with it, I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be truly eye opening.